ST. CLAIR COUNTY, Mich. – An innovative project designed to solve two environmental issues at once has some St. Clair County residents concerned for their health.
When it comes to trash, Michigan is No. 1. A recent study revealed that there is more trash per resident in Michigan landfills than any other state. To make room for more trash, St. Clair County did something innovative -- but now some residents say they are unwilling participants in the county’s experiment.
After Jill Hunt inherited the Pink Elephant Bar, she started putting money into improving the outdoor space. She put in new horseshoe pits and said she spent around $4,000 on a fence. But now, she said her customers don’t want to go outside and some are avoiding her business altogether.
Her bar is less than a mile from the Smiths Creek Landfill.
“Then the last couple of years, it’s been very pungent and very bad,” Hunt said. “To the point where people would say they’re getting nauseated from it. Their eyes were burning, their nostrils were stinging.”
It is normal for landfills to expel gas, that’s because gas is released into the air as garbage rots. The situation at the Smiths Creek Landfill is different because it’s a research project. The county was spraying septic tank waste into layers of garbage to make the garbage rot faster.
Because of the septic waste, the landfill produces a lot more gas than other landfills and people who live nearby have said the gas is making them sick.
In just the last six months, Local 4 investigators discovered there have been 80 complaints made to St. Clair County and 47 odor complaints to the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE).
Some of the violation notices from EGLE note high methane concentrations, failure to collect landfill gas at a sufficient rate, odor complaints, and more. A Nov. 14, 2023, notice noted that “elevated concentrations of hydrogen sulfide, potentially resulting from the anaerobic breakdown of septage sludge in the landfill, have been detected atop the surface of the landfill.
Hydrogen sulfide is a flammable, colorless gas that smells like rotten eggs. Exposure to low concentrations of the gas can cause irritation to the eyes, nose, or throat. It can also make it difficult to breathe for some asthmatics, according to the EPA. It can also cause headaches, poor memory, tiredness, and balance problems.
Brief exposures to high concentrations of hydrogen sulfide can cause someone to lose consciousness. The EPA said in most cases the person will regain consciousness without any other effects. In some cases, the person may experience long-term effects such as headache, poor attention span, poor memory, and poor motor function.
View highlights from EGLE violation notices:
Spraying septic tank waste into layers of garbage
About 20 years ago, St. Clair County spent about $2 million for a system that takes septic tank waste and sprays it into layers of garbage.
Matt Williams manages the Smiths Creek Landfill.
“So, essentially, a research project is how it’s characterized,” Williams said. “We’ve been operating our landfill as a bioreactor since about 2009.”
The septic waste makes it so the garbage rots much faster than it normally would. The rotting garbage shrinks down and clears up space for more garbage. As it rots, the trash creates a lot of gas. The gas is sucked up by underground pipes and sold to a company that turns it into electricity.
“We’ve earned pretty consistent $750,000 to $800,000 a year revenue from our partner for the gas that we’re providing to them.
Local 4 did some digging and found records that indicate it costs the county more money to maintain the bioreactor than it earns from selling gas.
In just the first nine months of 2023, St. Clair County paid more than $950,000 to CTI and Associates Inc., the Michigan company that designed and maintains the system.
Bob Fielitz lives about a mile from the Smiths Creek Landfill. He said the odor has woken him up before and caused his eyes to burn.
Landfill manager Matt Williams said the gas is under control now, but residents said they’re still concerned about the effects. A lawsuit against the county may be filed soon.
View the full PDFs of the EGLE violation notices below:
You can read the landfill’s responses to the violations below: